Located in Menton on the French Riviera, this is the first year a restaurant in France has taken the top spot at the prestigious awards.
The Top 10 Restaurants For 2019
1. Mirazur (Menton, France)
2. Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark)
3. Asador Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain)
Best Female Chef 2019 Daniela Soto-Innes of Cosme in New York City with fiancé Blaine Wetze of The Willows Inn on Lummi Islanad, Washington.
4. Gaggan (Bangkok)
5. Geranium (Copenhagen, Denmark)
6. Central (Lima, Peru)
7. Mugaritz (San Sebastian, Spain)
8. Arpege (Paris, France)
9. Disfrutar (Barcelona, Spain)
10. Maido (Lima, Peru)
Chefs do selfies, too: Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, Joan Roca of El Cellar de Can Roca, and Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana — all of whose restaurants now fall into the Best of the Best hall of fame category.
SINGAPORE — At the first World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony held in Asia, Mirazur in Menton, France, was awarded the No. 1 spot — the first for a French restaurant. Filipino foodies will remember that chef-owner Mauro Colagreco was in town for a four-hands collaboration at City of Dreams Manila’s Tasting Room back in 2015, with then-chef de cuisine William Mahi. Colagreco has since grown his empire of restaurants (Shanghai, Macau, Buenos Aires, Palm Beach) and this year, Mirazur was awarded a third Michelin star.
At the awards ceremony at Marina Bay Sands, when Mauro and wife Julia took the stage, they brought with them the flags of Argentina, France, Brazil and Italy.
The tastiest bites at the World’s 50 Best awards cocktail reception were by Waku Ghin’s Tetsuya Wakuda.
“Argentina is my roots, Brazil is the country that gave me the love of my life (Julia), France represents my culinary training, and more than half of my team comes from Italy,” he shared. “But the flags represent more than that. They symbolize that cuisine doesn’t have borders. Through cuisine, everyone can express themselves, wherever they are.”
Changes In The World’s 50 Best
Jose Avillez’s Belcanto in Lisbon (also a favorite of Filipino designers Rajo Laurel and Nix Alanon) enters the list this year at No. 42.
This year also marks a new category in the awards body. “Best of the Best” is similar to an iconic hall of fame where dining destinations that have taken the No. 1 spot will no longer be eligible for voting in 2019 and beyond. These are: El Bulli (2002, 2006-2009), The French Laundry (2003-2004), The Fat Duck (2005), Noma – original location (2010-2012, 2014), El Celler de Can Roca (2013, 2015), Osteria Francescana (2016, 2018) and Eleven Madison Park (2017).
Adding to that, the voting panel, comprised of over 1,000 international restaurant industry experts (food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and well-traveled gourmets), is now split between 50 percent female voters and 50 percent male voters, from 26 regions around the world.
Jose Andres, the recipient of the 2019 Icon Award for his World Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides meals in the wake of natural disasters.
New Entries And Special Awards
This year saw 12 new entries: Noma in Copenhagen (straight to No. 2!), Twins Garden in Moscow (No. 19), Elkano in Getaria (No. 30), Nerua in Bilbao (No. 32), Don Julio in Buenos Aires (No. 34), Atelier Crenn in San Francisco (No. 35), A Casa do Porco in São Paulo (No. 39), The Chairman in Hong Kong (No. 41), Belcanto in Lisbon (No. 42), Sühring in Bangkok (No. 45), Benu in San Francisco (No. 48) and Leo in Bogota (No. 49).
Daniela Sotto-Ines of Cosme in New York was the youngest-ever awarded Best Female Chef at only 28 years old.
Danny Yip’s The Chairman in Hong Kong is a new entry to the list at No. 41.
“My responsibility is to get to know each person in the team so they can work towards your vision — but with their identity,” she shared. “It’s important not to change who they are.”
Jose Andres, recipient of the Icon Award for his World Central Kitchen that provides meals in the wake of natural disasters, pronounced, “We need to be honoring not only the men who seem to be getting the most credit, but also the women who are ‘really feeding the world.’”
The Cinco Jotas jamon Iberico was also popular with the guests.
The other special awards were: Chef’s Choice: Alain Passard of Arpe?ge in Paris; Art of Hospitality: Den in Tokyo; Sustainable Restaurant: Schloss Schauenstein in Fu?rstenau; Best Pastry Chef: Jessica Pre?alpato of Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athe?ne?e in Paris; One to Watch: Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera.
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For more information on the awards, visit www.theworlds50best.com. Special thanks to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
You can reach me at inbetweendeadlines@gmail.com, on my blog www.cheryltiu.com, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cheryltiu or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/chertiu.